| Sami Kelopuro | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | LarsLuzak Lrslzk (PokerStars) |
| Hometown | Monte Carlo |
| Born | 1987 (age 24–25) Finland |
| World Series of Poker | |
| Bracelet(s) | None |
| Money finish(es) | 2 |
| Highest ITM Main Event finish |
111th, 2011 |
| European Poker Tour | |
| Title(s) | None |
| Final table(s) | None |
| Money finish(es) | 2 |
| Information accurate as of July 17, 2011. | |
Sami Kelopuro (born 1987 in Finland), also known as LarsLuzak, is a professional poker player represented by Poker Icons.[1] Sami started to play poker cash games in late 2005 [2] when he was invited to a home sit-and-go poker tournament. After playing there, he was excited about poker and played online poker soon after, where he played a mix of tournaments, sit-and-gos, cash games, heads up, shorthanded, and full ring games. He started on PAF, an online poker room belonging to the Ongame Network, where he made several deposits of €30 each, and began playing $0.25/$0.50 and $0.50/$1.00 games. At the time, he was just finishing high school, but was able to devote up to 10 hours a day to playing online poker. Six months after graduating from high school, Kelopuro joined the Finnish Defence Forces, where he stayed for nine months. While there, he continued playing online poker. During his service, he decided that he wanted to play poker professionally after completing his service and he made his first large profits as a cash game specialist on the poker room Betfair.
Sami or by now known as LarsLuzak made a major impact on the cash game scene when in 2007 moving up to high stakes no-limit Texas hold 'em and pot-limit Omaha hold 'em cash games at Full Tilt Poker, playing on limits up to $500/$1,000, where he was involved in some of the biggest poker hands[3] at that time made and experienced daily swings of up to a million dollars.[4]. He is known for being one of the most aggressive and fearless cash game players in the world. Despite shying away from the spotlight when he first became a popular player for spectators to rail, he started blogging at Coinflip a poker website that he started with fellow Finnish poker pro, Ilari Sahamies. When playing poker online, Kelopuro enjoys challenging himself by playing against some of the best poker players in the world.[5] During the past years he has started to show results also in live poker tournaments, for a total of more than $200,000 in winnings.[6] In May 2011 he won the Spring Championship of Online Poker Event 38-H ($10,300 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event) for $504,691.09.[7][8]